Poll: Religious differences less important than bad sex

By: JoAnne Viviano

The Columbus Dispatch - February 13, 2013 01:31 PM

While more than half of Americans say it's a major problem for a relationship when a couple has
an unsatisfying sex life, fewer than 3-in-10 say differing religious views is a major problem,
according to a new poll.

The
survey released in advance of Valentine's Day by the Public Religion Research
Institute and the Religion News Service shows that more men (61 percent) than women (48 percent)
consider unsatisfying sex a major problem for couples.

A majority of white evangelical Protestants (56 percent) consider differing religious beliefs is
a problem for relationships. That compares with 38 percent of minority Christians, 24 percent of
white mainline Protestants, 19 percent of Catholics and 17 percent of the religiously
unaffiliated.

Minority Christians, 64 percent, are the most likely to say unsatisfying sex is a major problem
for couples, compared with 57 percent of white evangelical Protestants, 56 percent of the
religiously unaffiliated, 52 percent of Catholics and 47 percent of white mainline Protestants.

Nearly 6-in-10 of the religiously unaffiliated say they're likely to have sex on Valentine's Day
as well as about half of Catholics (51 percent) and white evangelicals (48 percent) and 4-in-10
white mainline Protestants.

The telephone survey of about 1,000 adults was conducted between Feb. 6 and 10. Margin of error
is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.